The provision of shutters having a rectangular frame and louvres, is well known. Such louvres may be opened to admit light, or closed to restrict light. In the simplest form of such shutters a louvre control bar was connected to all of the louvres, and movement of the bar operated all the louvres in unison. In more advanced forms of shutter design, the shutter frame is hollow, and the louvre control mechanism is concealed within the hollow frame of the shutter. A manual control may be located on one of the side frames, by which the mechanism may be operated so as to rotate all of the louvres between open and closed positions. In addition, by the provision of a louvre control mechanism of this type it is possible to provide a frictional restraint, so that once the louvres have been set in a desired position, they will remain in that position until they are manually reset. This provides a further appeal to the consumer.
Numerous designs have been proposed for such concealed louvre operating mechanisms. One recent example is in U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,621, issued Nov. 2, 2004, inventor Fernando Ricci, entitled Friction Brake for Louvre Structures.
In this example, the side members of the shutter frame are hollow. The louvres were provided with axles at each end, which extended through openings in the hollow side frames. Within one of the side frames a mechanism was located by which all of the louvres were connected and would rotate in unison. In this example, there is no disclosures of a separate manual operating knob or control. The louvres were presumably moved from one position to another simply by holding one of the louvres in the finger and thumb and rotating it. However, manual operating devices for such controls are well known.
The design of this particular type of louvre control mechanism was relatively complex, and required some considerable degree of dexterity in assembling the various parts. A more serious disadvantage however was the difficulty of arranging the spaces between the axes of the adjacent louvres.
Preferably when such shutters are made, such louvres can be spaced with their axes a greater or lesser distance apart. This variable spacing is desirable since a customer may have windows, or doors, which may vary in height. They may require a greater or lesser number of louvres. In each case the actual spacing of the louvres may be a custom function, in order to provide a shutter which accommodates the particular windows of a particular home. In some cases in the past this problem has been addressed by simply providing top and bottom frame members, and varying the width of the top and bottom frame members. This system however is not entirely satisfactory and may provide an unaesthetic appearance or variation in appearance between various different shutters in a home. It is desirable to provide for the ability to construct the shutter, with the louvres at predetermined displacement from one another, depending upon the requirements of a customer. This has not been possible in prior art designs. One solution is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,534, N Marocco, Issued, Jan. 13 2004. However, this was a relatively complex system requiring hand adjustments. It is also desirable to incorporate some form of frictional resistance in the operating mechanism, in a simple and effective manner, so that the louvres will remain in the particular angular orientation selected by the home owner.
One of the problems in making shutters is that they must usually be made to custom measurements to fit the size of a particular window or door opening.
The shutter louvres are made in predetermined widths. In order to fit a certain window opening, louvres must be selected, by width. Then they must be set in the frame at predetermined spacings. The edges of the louvres must overlap, to be effective. But they should not overlap too far.
It is thus necessary to select the both the best width of louvre, and also the best number of louvres for a specific shutter. The frames must then be made with openings to accept louvres pivots, at spacings which will achieve the desired degree of overlap, when the louvres are swung closed.
Then when that has been determined, the operating mechanism within the frame must also be set to the same spacings are the louvre pivot openings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,534, this adjustment required that the mechanism connecting the louvres had to be manually adjusted, and fastened, to achieve the correct spacing.
This clearly was undesirable. It involved increased manufacturing time, and cost. It also involved the possibility that, over time, the manual adjustment might become loose, and the shutter would then require repair.
It is desirable to provide a connecting mechanism, contained within the shutter frame, which is self centering during manufacture and requires no manual adjustment.